Why Romney’s Bain Explanation Makes No Sense

Steve Kornacki notes that Mitt Romney’s explanation for leaving Bain Capital only makes sense in the context of when he made it: When Romney left to run the Olympics, there was no reason for him to think he would be running for public office any time soon. In fact, he fully expected to return to his old job.

“The point here isn’t that Romney was running Bain Capital and making all of its key decisions from 1999 to 2002. But the story he tells now absolves him of all responsibility for anything and everything Bain did in those years. This would be reasonable if Romney had forged a clear and total break with the company in 1999, but he didn’t. His statement to the ballot law commission 10 years ago was supported by just about all of his actions between 1999 and 2002: Until the final few months of his Olympic tenure, Romney’s break from Bain was supposed to temporary.”